Apparatus and methods forming electrostatic discharge and electrical overstress protection devices for integrated circuits wherein such devices include shared electrical contact between source regions and between drain regions for more efficient dissipation of an electrostatic discharge. The devices further include contact plugs and contact lands which render the fabrication of the devices less sensitive to alignment constraint in the formation of contacts for the device.
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13. A contact for a semiconductor device, comprising:
a single contact plug extending through a first barrier layer and a second barrier layer, the second barrier layer disposed over the first barrier layer and planarized down to a transistor gate member, the single contact plug being in electrical communication with an active region on a semiconductor substrate;
an individual contact land disposed atop the single contact plug and a portion of the second barrier layer, wherein the individual contact land is wider than the single contact plug; and
an upper contact extending through a third barrier layer, the third barrier layer disposed over the second barrier layer, to form an electrical contact with the individual contact land.
15. A semiconductor device including at least one contact, comprising:
a single contact plug extending through each of a first barrier layer and a second barrier layer, the second barrier disposed over the first barrier layer and planarized down to a transistor gate member, the single contact plug being in electrical communication with an active region on a semiconductor substrate;
an individual contact land disposed atop the single contact plug and a portion of the second barrier layer, the individual contact land being wider than the single contact plug; and
an upper contact extending through a third barrier layer, the third barrier layer disposed over the second barrier layer, to form an electrical contact with the individual contact land.
1. A transistor for the dissipation of electrostatic discharges, comprising:
an intermediate structure comprising a substrate having at least one thick field oxide area, and at least one active area including at least one implanted drain region, and at least one implanted source region, the intermediate structure further including at least one transistor gate member spanned between the at least one implanted drain region and the at least one implanted source region on the at least one active area;
a first barrier layer planarized down to the at least one transistor gate member and substantially covering the at least one thick field oxide area and the at least one active area, and adjacent the at least one transistor gate member;
at least one drain contact plug extending through the first barrier layer, wherein the at least one drain contact plug is in electrical communication with the at least one implanted drain region on the substrate;
at least one source contact plug extending through the first barrier layer, wherein the at least one source contact plug is in electrical communication with the at least one implanted source region on the substrate;
an individual drain contact land disposed atop the at least one drain contact plug and a portion of the first barrier layer, the individual drain contact land wider than the at least one drain contact plug;
an individual source contact land disposed atop the at least one source contact plug and a portion of the first barrier layer, the individual source contact land wider than the at least one source contact plug;
a second barrier layer disposed over the first barrier layer, the individual drain contact land, and the individual source contact land;
at least one upper source contact extending through the second barrier layer, the at least one upper source contact in electrical communication with the individual source contact land; and
at least one upper drain contact extending through the second barrier layer, the at least one upper drain contact in electrical communication with the individual drain contact land.
7. A semiconductor device including at least one transistor for the dissipation of electrostatic discharges, comprising:
an intermediate structure comprising a semiconductor substrate having at least one thick field oxide area, and at least one active area including at least one implanted drain region, and at least one implanted source region, the intermediate structure further including at least one transistor gate member spanned between the at least one implanted drain region and the at least one implanted source region on the at least one active area;
a first barrier layer planarized down to the at least one transistor gate member and substantially covering the at least one thick field oxide area, the at least one active area, and adjacent the at least one transistor gate member;
at least one drain contact plug extending through the first barrier layer, wherein the at least one drain contact plug is in electrical communication with the at least one implanted drain region on the semiconductor substrate;
at least one source contact plug extending through the first barrier layer, wherein the at least one source contact plug is in electrical communication with the at least one implanted source region on the semiconductor substrate;
an individual drain contact land disposed atop the at least one drain contact plug and a portion of the first barrier layer, the individual drain contact land wider than the at least one drain contact plug;
an individual source contact land disposed atop the at least one source contact plug and a portion of the first barrier layer, the individual source contact land wider than the at least one source contact plug;
a second barrier layer disposed over the first barrier layer;
at least one upper source contact extending through the second barrier layer, the at least one upper source contact in electrical communication with the individual source contact land; and
at least one upper drain contact extending through the second barrier layer, the at least one upper drain contact in electrical communication with the individual drain contact land.
14. A transistor for the dissipation of electrostatic discharges, comprising:
an intermediate structure comprising a substrate having at least one thick field oxide area, and at least one active area including at least one implanted drain region, and at least one implanted source region, the intermediate structure further including at least one transistor gate member spanned between the at least one implanted drain region and the at least one implanted source region on the at least one active area;
a first barrier layer substantially covering the at least one thick field oxide area and the at least one active area, and adjacent the at least one transistor gate member;
a second barrier layer disposed over the first barrier layer and planarized down to the at least one transistor gate member;
at least one drain contact plug extending through each of the first and second barrier layers, wherein the at least one drain contact plug is in electrical communication with the at least one implanted drain region on the substrate;
at least one source contact plug extending through each of the first and second barrier layers, wherein the at least one source contact plug is in electrical communication with the at least one implanted source region on the substrate;
an individual drain contact land disposed atop the at least one drain contact plug and a portion of the second barrier layer, the individual drain contact land wider than the at least one drain contact plug;
an individual source contact land disposed atop the at least one source contact plug and a portion of the second barrier layer, the individual source contact land wider than the at least one source contact plug;
a third barrier layer disposed over the second barrier layer, the individual drain contact land, and the individual source contact land;
at least one upper source contact extending through the third barrier layer, the at least one upper source contact in electrical communication with the individual source contact land; and
at least one upper drain contact extending through the third barrier layer, the at least one upper drain contact in electrical communication with the individual drain contact land.
16. A semiconductor device including at least one transistor for the dissipation of electrostatic discharges, comprising:
an intermediate structure comprising a semiconductor substrate having at least one thick field oxide area, and at least one active area including at least one implanted drain region, and at least one implanted source region, the intermediate structure further including at least one transistor gate member spanned between the at least one implanted drain region and the at least one implanted source region on the at least one active area;
a first barrier layer substantially covering the at least one thick field oxide area and the at least one active area, and adjacent the at least one transistor gate member;
second barrier layer disposed over the first barrier layer and planarized down to the at least one transistor gate member;
at least one drain contact plug extending through each of the first and second barrier layers, wherein the at least one drain contact plug is in electrical communication with the at least one implanted drain region on the semiconductor substrate;
at least one source contact plug extending through each of the first and second barrier layers, wherein the at least one source contact plug is in electrical communication with the at least one implanted source region on the semiconductor substrate;
an individual drain contact land disposed atop the at least one drain contact plug and a portion of the second barrier layer, the individual drain contact land being wider than the at least one drain contact plug;
an individual source contact land disposed atop the at least one source contact plug and a portion of the second barrier layer, the individual source contact land being wider than the at least one source contact plug;
a third layer disposed over the second barrier layer, the individual source contact land and the individual drain contact land;
at least one upper source contact extending through the third barrier layer, the at least one upper source contact being in electrical communication with the individual source contact land; and
at least one upper drain contact extending through the third barrier layer, the at least one upper source contact being in electrical communication with the individual drain contact land.
2. The transistor of
3. The transistor of
4. The transistor of
5. The transistor of
6. The transistor of claims 1, wherein the at least one upper drain contact extends between at least two individual drain contact lands.
8. The semiconductor device of
9. The semiconductor device of
10. The semiconductor device of
11. The semiconductor device of
12. The semiconductor device of
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electrostatic discharge and electrical overstress protection devices and methods of fabricating same. More particularly, the present invention relates to protection devices having charge dissipating structures within the electrostatic discharge and electrical overstress protection devices.
2. State of the Art
Electrostatic discharge (hereinafter “ESD”) and electrical overstress (hereinafter “EOS”) are two common phenomenon that occur during human or mechanical handling of semiconductor integrated circuitry (hereinafter “IC”) devices. The input pins to an IC device are highly sensitive to damage from the voltage spike of an ESD, which can reach potentials in excess of hundreds of volts. If a charge of this magnitude is brought into contact with a pin of an IC device, a large flow of current may surge through the IC device. Although this current surge may be of limited energy and duration, it can cause a breakdown of insulating barriers within the IC device (usually gate oxide insulating barriers of an MOS (metal-oxide-semiconductor) IC device). This breakdown of the insulating barriers within an IC device can result in permanent damage to the IC device and, once damaged, it is impossible to repair the IC device.
All pins of a MOS IC device must be provided with protective circuits to prevent such ESD voltages from damaging the insulating barriers (e.g., gate oxide) therein. The most common ESD protection schemes presently used in MOS IC devices rely on the parasitic bipolar transistors associated with an nMOS (n-channel or negative channel metal-oxide-semiconductor) device. These protective circuits are normally placed between the input and output pads (i.e., pin locations) on a semiconductor chip (which contains the IC device) and the transistor gates to which the input and output pads are electrically connected. With such protective circuits under stress conditions, the dominant current conduction path between the protected pin and ground involves the parasitic bipolar transistor of that nMOS device. This parasitic bipolar transistor operates in the snapback region under pin positive with respect to ground stress events. The dominant failure mechanism found in the nMOS protection device operating in snapback conditions is the onset of second breakdown. Second breakdown is a phenomena that induces thermal runaway in the IC device wherever the reduction of the ESD current is offset by the thermal generation of carriers. Second breakdown is initiated in an IC device under stress, known as electrical overstress or EOS, as a result of self-heating. The peak nMOS device temperature at which second breakdown is initiated is known to increase with the stress current level. The time required for the structure to heat-up to this critical temperature is dependent on the device layout and stress power distributed across the device.
Higher performance, lower cost, increased miniaturization of components, and greater packaging density of IC devices are ongoing goals of the computer industry. The advantage of increased miniaturization of components include: reduced-bulk electronic equipment, improved reliability by reducing the number of solder or plug connections, lower assembly and packaging costs, and improved circuit performance. In pursuit of increased miniaturization, IC devices have been continually redesigned to achieve ever higher degrees of integration, which has reduced the size of the IC device. However, as the dimensions of the IC devices are reduced, the geometry of the circuit elements have also decreased. In MOS IC devices, the gate oxide thickness has decreased to below 10 nanometers (nm), and breakdown voltages are often less than 10 volts. With decreasing geometries of the circuit elements, the failure susceptibility of IC devices to ESD and EOS increases, and, consequently, providing adequate levels of ESD/EOS protection, has become increasingly more difficult.
An exemplary method of fabricating an ESD/EOS protection structure (i.e., transistor) is illustrated in
As shown in
A deposition mask 244 is patterned on the insulative barrier layer 226, having openings 246 over the contacts 242, as shown in
Although methods as described above are used in the industry, it is becoming more difficult to control the proper alignment of the etch mask 232 for the formation of the contacts 242, as tolerances become more and more stringent. For example, as shown in
Therefore, it would be desirable to design a transistor which can be fabricated with less sensitivity to misalignment and which has a more efficient charge dissipating structure to handle electrostatic discharge and electrical overstress.
The present invention relates methods of forming electrostatic discharge and electrical overstress protection devices for integrated circuits and devices so formed. The protection devices comprise at least one transistor which includes a shared electrical contact within source regions and within drain regions for more efficient dissipation of an electrostatic discharge which, in turn, reduces the incidence of electrical overstress. The protection devices further include contact plugs and contact landing pads which render the fabrication of such devices less sensitive to alignment constraint in the formation of contacts for the protection device.
An exemplary method of fabrication of the transistor of the present application comprises forming an intermediate structure, including a semiconductor substrate, such as a lightly doped P-type silicon substrate, which has been oxidized to form thick field oxide areas and exposed to n-type implantation processes to form a source region and a drain region. A transistor gate member is formed on the surface of the semiconductor substrate residing on a substrate active area spanned between the source region and the drain region. The transistor gate member comprises a lower buffer layer separating the gate conducting layer of the transistor gate member from the semiconductor substrate. Transistor insulating spacer members, preferably silicon dioxide, are formed on either side of the transistor gate member and a cap insulator is formed on the top of the transistor gate member.
A first barrier layer, preferably tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS), is disposed over the semiconductor substrate, the thick field oxide areas, the source region, the drain region, and the transistor gate member. A second barrier layer (preferably made of borophosphosilicate glass (BPSG), borosilicate glass (BSG), phosphosilicate glass (PSG), or the like) is deposited over the first barrier layer. It is, of course, understood that a single barrier layer could be employed. However, a typical barrier configuration is a layer of TEOS over the transistor gate member and the substrate followed by a BPSG layer over the TEOS layer. The TEOS layer is applied to prevent dopant migration. The BPSG layer contains boron and phosphorus which can migrate into the source and drain regions formed on the substrate during inherent device fabrication heating steps. This migration of boron and phosphorus can change the dopant concentrations in the source and drain regions, which can adversely affect the performance of the transistor gate member.
The second barrier layer is then planarized down to the transistor gate member. The planarization is preferably performed using a mechanical abrasion, such as a chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) process. A first etch mask is patterned on the surface of the planarized second barrier layer, such that openings in the first etch mask are located substantially over the source region and the drain region. The first etch mask openings may be of any shape or configuration, including but not limited to circles, ovals, rectangles, or even long slots extending over several source regions or drain regions, respectively. The second barrier layer and first barrier layer are then etched to form first vias which expose at least a portion of the source region and the drain region, and the first etch mask is removed. The exposure of the transistor gate member and the etching of such a shallow second barrier layer and first barrier layer allow for easy alignment of the first etch mask which, of course, virtually eliminates the possibility of etching through the insulating material of the transistor gate member to expose and short the gate conducting layer within the transistor gate member. A first conductive material is deposited to fill the first vias. The first conductive material is then planarized to isolate the first conductive material within the first vias, thereby forming contact plugs.
Although any shape of openings in the first etch mask can be used, such as individual openings for each source and drain region, it is preferred that a plurality of transistors are formed in parallel, such that long, slot-type openings in the first etch mask can be formed. The long slot-type opening, upon etching, forms long, slot vias which expose multiple source regions or multiple drain regions, respectively. Thus, when the first conductive material is deposited in the first vias, the first conductive material will span multiple source or drain regions and, thereby, dissipate an ESD more efficiently.
A deposition mask is patterned on the second barrier layer, having openings over the contact plugs. The deposition mask openings may be of any shape or configuration, including, but not limited to, circles, ovals, rectangles, or even long slots extending over several source regions and drain regions, respectively. A second conductive material is deposited over the deposition mask to fill the deposition mask openings. The second conductive material is planarized to electrically separate the second conductive material within each deposition mask opening. The planarization is preferably performed using a mechanical abrasion, such as a CMP process. The deposition mask is then removed to leave the second conductive material forming contact lands which are preferably wider than the contact plugs. Again, it is preferred that the contact lands extend over multiple source or drain regions to assist in the dissipation of an ESD.
A third barrier layer (preferably made of borophosphosilicate glass (BPSG), phosphosilicate glass (PSG), or the like) is deposited over the second barrier layer and the contact lands, and, optionally, planarized. A second etch mask is patterned on the third barrier layer, wherein the second etch mask includes openings substantially aligned over the contact lands. The third barrier layer is then etched down to the contact lands to form contact vias. As mentioned above, the contact lands are preferably larger than the contact plugs. The larger contact lands provide a bigger “target” for the etch through the third barrier layer to “hit” the contact lands in the formation of the contact vias. Thus, precise alignment becomes less critical.
The second etch mask is then removed and a third conductive material is deposited over the third barrier layer to fill the contact vias. The third conductive material is then planarized down to the third barrier layer, such as by a CMP method, to electrically isolate the conductive material within each contact via to form upper contacts. A second deposition mask is patterned on the third barrier layer, having openings over the upper contacts. A fourth conductive material is deposited over the deposition mask to fill the deposition mask openings. The fourth conductive material is planarized to electrically separate the fourth conductive material within each deposition mask opening. The planarization is preferably performed using a mechanical abrasion, such as a CMP process. The second deposition mask is then removed to leave the fourth conductive material, forming a source contact metallization and a drain contact metallization, thereby completing the formation of the bipolar transistor.
While the specification concludes with claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming that which is regarded as the present invention, the advantages of this invention can be more readily ascertained from the following description of the invention when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
A first barrier layer 126, preferably tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS), is disposed over the semiconductor substrate 102, the thick field oxide areas 104, the source region 106, the drain region 108, and the transistor gate member 112. A second barrier layer 128 (preferably made of borophosphosilicate glass (BPSG), borosilicate glass (BSG), phosphosilicate glass (PSG), or the like) is deposited over the first barrier layer 126.
Generally, a plurality of structures are formed in multiple sets on the semiconductor substrate 102.
As shown in
As shown in
A deposition mask 152, such as TEOS, is patterned on the second barrier layer 128 having openings 154 over the contact plugs 148, as shown in FIG. 11. The deposition mask openings 154 may be of any shape or configuration, including, but not limited to, circles, ovals, rectangles, or even long slots extending over several source regions 106 and drain regions 108, respectively. A second conductive material 156, such as n-doped polysilicon, is deposited over the deposition mask 152 to fill the deposition mask openings 154, as shown in FIG. 12. The second conductive material 156 is planarized, as shown in
A third barrier layer 166 (preferably made of borophosphosilicate glass (BPSG), phosphosilicate glass (PSG), or the like) is deposited over the second barrier layer 128 and the contact lands 158, and, optionally, planarized, as shown in
A third conductive material 176, such as titanium nitride or tungsten, is deposited over the third barrier layer 166 to fill the contact vias 174 (see FIG. 20), as shown in FIG. 21. The third conductive material 176 is then planarized down to the third barrier layer 166, such as by a CMP method, to electrically isolate the conductive material 176 within each contact via 174 to form upper contacts 178, as shown in FIG. 22.
A second deposition mask 180, such as TEOS, is patterned on the third barrier layer 166, having openings 182 over the upper contacts 178, as shown in
It is, of course, understood that the present invention can be used to form any contact for a semiconductor device, wherein a contact plug (such as contact plug 148) is capped with a contact land (such as contact land 158) in order to make the formation of the contact less sensitive to etch misalignmnents.
Having thus described in detail preferred embodiments of the present invention, it is to be understood that the invention defined by the appended claims is not to be limited by particular details set forth in the above description, as many apparent variations thereof are possible without departing from the spirit or scope thereof.
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